A Dublin man jailed for life for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin has begun an appeal against his conviction.
Paul Ward (37), with an address at Walkinstown, Dublin, was convicted in November 1998 by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of Ms Guerin (36), at Naas Road, Clondalkin. The Sunday Independent journalist was shot dead by a gunman on a motorbike.
At his trial, the prosecution claimed Ward was a member of a gang which carried out the killing. It was also contended Ward disposed of the murder weapon and of a motorcycle after the killers called to his house.
Ward's appeal was listed before the Court of Criminal Appeal for hearing yesterday and is set to last four days. Ward has filed some 32 grounds of appeal, the vast majority of which challenge the evidence given by State witness Charles Bowden at Ward's trial.
Ward was present for his appeal yesterday. Mr Jimmy Guerin, brother of Ms Guerin, also attended court.
In his appeal, Ward will argue that the evidence of Bowden was so unreliable the court should not have acted on it without corroboration and should have acquitted Ward on the grounds that "no reasonable tribunal of fact" could properly convict on such evidence and because the charge against Ward had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
He also contends the court failed to give sufficient weight to the danger inherent in Bowden's situation when giving evidence as he had an interest in ensuring every member of the gang was convicted so as to remove them, including Ward, as potential threats to his safety. He also says the prosecution and court had access to material which was highly prejudicial to Ward but which was unfairly withheld from the defence.
He says it appeared likely this material included statements and or notes of interviews with another man who owned a lock-up garage located close to where Ms Guerin was shot and where motorcycle helmets, a stolen motorcycle and stolen car were found by gardaí shortly after the killing.
Having concluded Bowden was an accessory to the murder, who had engaged in drug dealing and was a member of a well-organised gang involved in importing and distributing drugs, firearms and ammunition, and that he was a "self-serving, deeply avaricious and potentially vicious criminal" who had admitted he was a liar, the court should have approached Bowden's evidence not as the evidence of an accomplice but as the evidence of a "supergrass" , Mr Barry White SC, for Ward, said.
Mr White said Bowden had given evidence about certain matters to the Meehan and Gilligan trials which conflicted with evidence given at Ward's trial.
Mr White said he was also concerned to show that two other divisions of the Special Criminal Court had held that Bowden was so untruthful and untrustworthy that they could not accept what he had said about certain matters.
Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the DPP, said it could not be argued that, if a witness whose evidence led to one person's conviction was later disbelieved by another court in the trial of another person, that this could lead to the first person's conviction being quashed.
Mr Justice Francis Murphy, presiding, sitting with Mr Justice O Caoimh and Mr Justice McKechnie, said the court would allow Ward to refer to certain parts of the transcripts of the trials of Gilligan and Meehan.
Ward might refer to references made by Charles Bowden to monies received by him from the Garda, his role in securing the convictions and his state of mind as to the security of his future when giving evidence in the Ward trial. The hearing continues today.